How old was Isaac when he was to be sacrificed?<\/p>\n\t
The Bible does not give a specific age, but there are events surrounding Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac which gives us clues. Most scholars believe that Isaac was in his late teens or early twenties at the time of the offering.<\/p>\n
At the time that Isaac was conceived, we are told that Abraham was 99 years old, his wife Sarah was 90, and Ishmael was 13 (Genesis 17:1,\u00a017,\u00a025). Ishmael was sent out of Abraham’s house at the time Isaac was weaned (Genesis 21). The age of weaning varies greatly between cultures but typically it would be between the ages of 2 and 5. The next given event is a covenant between Abraham and Abimelech, but no ages are given to tell us when this occurred. It was some time after this covenant that Isaac was offered. After the sacrifice of Isaac came news of Abraham’s relatives in Haran and then we are told that Sarah died at the age of 127 (Genesis 23:1).<\/p>\n
Hence, the sacrifice of Isaac must have occurred between the age of 5 and 36, which is quite a broad span. In addition, Isaac is referred to as a “lad” or\u00a0na’ar<\/i>\u00a0in Hebrew in\u00a0Genesis 22:5\u00a0and\u00a012. This noun is used to refer to a male from infancy to a young adult not yet married. For example, Joseph is called a lad at the age of seventeen (Genesis 37:2) and at the age of thirty (Genesis 41:12,\u00a046).<\/p>\n
We do have some further clues. Isaac is old enough to travel three days with Abraham but without his mother. His conversation with Abraham is that of an older child or a young adult. Finally, Isaac is the one who carried the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain (Genesis 22:6). The latter is strong evidence that Isaac was no longer a small child and serves as the main reason that our best guess is that he was at least in his late teens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: How old was Isaac when he was to be sacrificed? Answer: The Bible does not give a specific age, but there are events surrounding Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac which gives us clues. Most scholars believe that Isaac was in his late teens or early twenties at the time of the offering. At the time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[23,189,24],"class_list":["post-815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-abraham","tag-genesis","tag-isaac"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36597,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-many-sons-did-abraham-have\/","url_meta":{"origin":815,"position":0},"title":"How many sons did Abraham have?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding Genesis 20, where it says Sarah was untouched. So being the wife of Abraham she had no relations with him?\u00a0 Then how was it written she was barren?\u00a0 Abraham was married to his half-sister so he only told half a lie to the Pharaoh. Why was the Pharaoh\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32758,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-esau-and-ishmaels-descendants-considered-gentiles\/","url_meta":{"origin":815,"position":1},"title":"Were Esau and Ishmael’s descendants considered Gentiles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are studying Genesis 36 and the generations of Esau.\u00a0 Several questions arose that have generated some good discussion, but we are needing some help. The questions asked \"Were Esau and Ishmael's families considered Gentiles? Or were they Jews?\u00a0 We are a little confused about when the Jewish nation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":410,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/410-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":815,"position":2},"title":"How were Isaac and Jacob blessed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How were Isaac and Jacob blessed? Answer: In the times of the Old Testament children could inherit two things from their parents: property and a blessing. If your parents had three children, then on their death their property was divided four ways (one more than the number of living\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63413,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sacrifice-of-isaac\/","url_meta":{"origin":815,"position":3},"title":"The Sacrifice of Isaac","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Genesis 22:1-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are stories that cause some concern because they involve the concept of sacrificing a human being to God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They cause concern because the Bible is very clear about God\u2019s opinion on human sacrifices. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The slaying of humans invokes a death sentence\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4019,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-dug-numerous-wells-that-were-taken-from-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":815,"position":4},"title":"Who dug numerous wells that were taken from him?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am trying to write a children's book for my nephew based on the account of the Old Testament figure who had his servants dig numerous wells which were taken by the heathens until finally, he dug one they didn't take.\u00a0 Can you help me find the story and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8389,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wasnt-abrahams-offering-of-isaac-because-of-pagan-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":815,"position":5},"title":"Wasn’t Abraham’s offering of Isaac because of pagan beliefs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Abraham \"offered\" Isaac to the mighty one (elohim) because he was still acting under a basic ancient pagan or heathen culture. This was a culture that believed that a great gift, such as one's only child late in life, or any great blessing deserved thanks to one's mighty one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}